Moroccan women were asked whether they had access to a formal health care provider and whether they ever used traditional medicine. The questions were designed to assess whether women and their families have options so that they can seek formal health care providers and specialists to deliver preventive, routine and emergency health care to maintain overall health and well-being. It should be noted that in urban areas, government-funded health centers or clinics are located in every district, and services rendered are free of charge.

More than seven in ten Moroccans (71%) do not have access to a formal health care provider.

As Figure 1 illustrates, more men than women say they do not have access to a formal health care provider (82% and 69%, respectively), and women report that they are more likely than men to have access to a physician or licensed health care provider (31% vs. 18%).

In Morocco, access to formal health care is more than twice as readily available in urban areas compared to rural areas (42% vs. 17%) (Figure 2). The overwhelming majority of women, however, still report a lack of access to a health care provider regardless of region (57% of urban residents and 81% of rural residents).

Men and women with higher levels of education are more likely to have access to formal health care providers and less likely to use traditional medicine than those with lower levels of education (Figure 3). The results are interesting to note since 91% of Moroccan women have less than a secondary education or no formal education compared to 86% of Moroccan men (for more information on educational levels, please see “Educational Attainment and Career Aspirations Topic Brief”). Seventeen percent of women have access to both a formal health care provider and make use of traditional medicine.

Women with a postsecondary education are significantly more likely to have access to a formal health care provider (69%), compared to women with less than a primary education (32%) and those with no education (21%).

Non-educated women are three times more likely to make use of traditional medicine than to have access to a formal health care provider (61% vs. 21%).

Women with an intermediate level of education have access to a formal health care provider and use traditional medicine at about the same rates (49% and 51% respectively).

More than four in ten women with a postsecondary degree utilize traditional medicine (42%), while almost seven in ten have access to a formal health care provider (69%).

When comparing the use of formal health care and traditional medicine by income adequacy, there is also an inverse relationship between the two as income adequacy increases (Figure 4).

There is a large discrepancy between access to formal health care and use of traditional medicine among women at low levels of income adequacy: 60% of low-income women resort to traditional medicine while only 16% have access to a formal health care provider.

Access to formal health care is higher for women at higher income adequacy levels. Upper-income women are more than three times as likely to have access to a formal health care provider (54%) compared to low-income women (16%).